They Were
by GabsGen
Summary: Five. Eight. Twelve. Thirteen. Four moments between three friends that they would probably always remember. Ash knew he would. Companion to When We Meet Again, but can be read without reading WWMA first.


**A/N: **For those of you that read my story When We Meet Again, do you recall me mentioning possibly making Chapter Thirteen's flashback into a full-fledged one-shot of its own? Well here it is.

This could be seen as a companion piece to When We Meet Again, but you don't have to read that to understand this. All you really have to know is that Hazel and Kaze are childhood friends of Ash's that grew up in Pallet Town with him.

And now, please enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pokemon in any way, sadly. Insert sad face here, please.

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><p>They Were…<p>

_They were five,_

_And it was summer._

Two boys, one with black hair and one with grey, raced each other down the dirt roads of Pallet Town. Their destination was a quaint house with roses of all colors blooming in the front yard's flower beds. The black-haired boy proved the faster of the two and, reaching the front door first, rang the doorbell. The door opened to reveal the dirty-blonde-haired mother of their best friend.

"Hi, Mrs. Lee!" the two boys chorused. "Can Hazel come out to play?" Mrs. Lee bit her lip and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh, Ash, Kaze, I don't know…" she trailed off, then started again. "You know she's not the healthiest…and the doctor did say to take it easy…"

"Come on, Mama!" a young voice said as an equally young girl bounced down the stairs. Her thick brown hair hung in soft curls and curlicues about her face, and light freckles stood out proudly on the pale skin. "Dr. Stein also said the more I play outside, the stronger I'll get! Didn't he, Mama?" Her mother huffed and then sighed. Outsmarted by a five-year-old…

"Very well," Mrs. Lee said. "But have her home by dinner and watch out for her." She kneeled down and looked first into Ash's brown eyes, then Kaze's grey ones. "I'm trusting you two with my daughter, and I want her back in one piece, you hear?" The two young boys nodded and when her mother moved out of the way, Hazel grabbed their arms and dragged them out the gate. "Be safe you three!" Mrs. Lee called out before they left earshot. The three indicated they heard, then took off, laughing and yelling, towards the outskirts of town.

"Thanks for getting me out of the house, Ash, Kaze!" Hazel said once they were past most of the houses. "Ever since we got back from the doctors, she's been paranoid about me getting sick."

"Didn't you go on Monday?" Kaze asked. It was Friday. Hazel nodded and started skipping, linking arms with the boys on either side of her.

"So what are we gonna play?" she asked, looking from one boy to the other. Even though they were the same age, she was half a head shorter.

"Pokemon!" was Ash's immediate answer, causing Hazel to giggle and Kaze to chuckle. Then Kaze started to pout.

"But I want to play explorers!" he exclaimed. Before the two could get in an argument or, worse, an actual fight, Hazel broke in.

"How about we explore and see what Pokemon we can find?" she asked. As soon as the two boys looked down and saw her puppy-dog face, all arguments against the idea faded and they caved. Ash and Kaze looked at each other and sighed, then nodded. Hazel cheered and clapped her hands before running on ahead.

"She's gonna be a heart breaker when she gets older," Kaze said. Ash turned to his friend.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

Shrugging, Kaze said, "I dunno. My mom says it a lot." The two boys looked at each other before shrugging and turning to follow their friend. Suddenly they heard a soft thud and harsh coughing. Ash and Kaze sent each other panicked looks before running to the source of the coughing. When they got there they stopped dead before Kaze bolted to her side.

Hazel had fallen to her knees and turned unnaturally pale, accented by the bright red starting to seep through the fingers covering her mouth and spotting her white sundress. Kaze had one hand on her back and the other on her knee, not knowing what he could do to help.

Meeting Ash's eyes, Kaze exclaimed, "Ash! Go get help! Dr. Stein if you can, but anyone will do! Just get someone!" Ash nodded once quickly and took off for town as fast as he could. It was as he was running that he realized how far they had wandered in such a short time. He would try Dr. Stein's house first; he lived right on the outskirts of Pallet and he usually got home around this time.

Ash was lucky. Dr. Stein had arrived home just as Ash got to the house. Hazel was lucky. Dr. Stein was able to get the coughing and bleeding to stop, but he still wanted to take her to Viridian overnight for observation, just to be safe. This was the worse she had been in a while. Kaze was lucky. He hadn't lost the little girl he was growing up with and would be able to see her eyes sparkle at him again.

_They were eight,_

_And it was fall._

Ash and Kaze sat on the couch in Hazel's house, waiting for Mrs. Lee to finish getting ready. As she walked down the stairs, buttoning up her coat, she said, "Okay, come on you two. I know you two want to see Hazel." The two boys nodded and, grabbing their own jackets, followed Mrs. Lee to her car. After making sure her daughter's friends were buckled in, she started the car and the forty-five minute drive to Viridian City's hospital. The drive was spent mostly in silence except for the radio, but as they reached the city limits, Mrs. Lee started muttering to herself. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl," she said. "This is the second time she's done this in as many months. Honestly, food poisoning from eating too many berries? I told her she's to ask for them first, not just eat them whenever she wants. Does she do this on purpose?"

Ash and Kaze looked at each other. They didn't know Hazel's mother wondered the same thing as them. Did Hazel eat too many berries on purpose? She had seemed different lately; quieter. They would ask her, they decided, conversing with only their eyes.

Ash and Kaze were sitting on Hazel's bed with her. Then Mrs. Lee left the room to take a phone call. When the door closed behind her, Ash and Kaze grabbed Hazel's hands and leaned close.

"Hazel," started Ash.

"Why did you do this again?" picked up Kaze. "Did you…" He looked to Ash for help.

"Did you do it on purpose?" Ash finished. Hazel blinked in surprise a few times. Darkness flickered in the depths of her eyes for a second before they brightened and she put a large smile on her face and squeezed her friends' hands.

"No, sillies!" she exclaimed. "Why would I do this on purpose? Berries are delicious! You can't really blame me for wanting to always eat them, can you?" It was then that Mrs. Lee came back in the room and Hazel turned to talk to her mother. Even though she was smiling, Ash and Kaze weren't sure they were convinced that Hazel was telling the truth. They had known each other since they were born; hard not to when they lived in a place as small as Pallet Town. Ash and Kaze could tell Hazel's smile was forced. Meeting each other's eyes over the brunette head that had calmed down from curls and curlicues to soft waves, Ash and Kaze nodded to each other. They would keep a closer eye on Hazel.

The two boys became able to predict when Hazel would end up in the hospital because of berries during the next few years. There seemed to be no pattern to when it would happen, but they would recognize the signs and tell Mrs. Lee to hide the berries. Not that hiding them always worked. Hazel would become quiet, contribute less to conversations, would play less, and would hole herself up in her room more. It worried everyone, but no one could figure out what was wrong. Whenever she would be confronted about it, Hazel would smile brightly and say they were being silly.

_They were twelve,_

_And it was winter._

"You sure he's being good to you?" Ash asked Hazel as she danced in the snow, waiting for _him _to come get her for their date. Kaze looked away from watching Mrs. Ketchum's Mr. Mime tend the winter garden to catch Hazel's response. Said girl puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on her newly emerging hips, glaring at her childhood friend.

"Of course I'm sure," she said. "What, you think I can't take care of myself?" she asked, fingering a Pokeball. Ash held up his hands in surrender, ignoring Pikachu's snickering.

"Of course I don't think that," Ash said. "I just worry about you; I've heard a lot of guys like you, that's all." Hazel raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"That's not true," she said. "It can't be. What's there to really like about me? I'm a plain Jane, after all."

Kaze scoffed, then covered it up by asking, "Where'd you meet this guy anyway?" Hazel blinked then narrowed her eyes before answering.

"Hoenn," she said, "But he lives in Viridian." Ash nodded, remembering that Hazel had gone to Hoenn after the Indigo Plateau rather than the Orange Islands and then Johto like himself. Hazel's head whipped around when someone called her name and her face brightened up. She ran out the gate in front of Ash's house, calling goodbyes as she did so. Kaze sighed.

"My mom was wrong all those years ago," he said. When Ash turned to him with a question on his face, Kaze continued, "She's not a heartbreaker; she's a seductress and a temptress." In Kaze's eyes, Hazel had always been pretty, but now, well…puberty was being good to her, he thought, her winter clothes not completely concealing her slight curves.

Looking at Kaze out of the corner of his eye, Ash said, "You're only saying that because you're crazy about her," surprising Pikachu with the revelation that he really wasn't as dense as he looked and seemed. Kaze sighed again.

"You may be right," Kaze acquiesced, his eyes still following Hazel's form down the snow-covered street. He laughed darkly and said, "I've lost her, haven't I, Ash? I lost my chance…" Not knowing what else to do, Ash patted Kaze's shoulder and stood from the porch, pulling his friend up with him.

"Come one," he said, opening the door to his house. "Mom makes the best hot chocolate, which you know, and I think you need some right now." Watching Hazel for a few more seconds, Kaze sighed for a third time and followed one of his closest friends into the house, closing the door behind him. Some of Mrs. Ketchum's hot chocolate would help, at least for a little while.

_They were thirteen,_

_And it was spring._

Ash looked up from writing a letter to Misty when he heard a knock at his door. "Ash?" asked a small voice. He stood and opened the door only to have his arms filled with a shaking brunette.

"Hazel, what happened?" Ash asked, pulling his friend into the room and closing the door behind her. Hazel shook her head against Ash's shoulder in response. Ash blew some stray bangs out of his eyes and asked, "Are you still cut up over _him_?" Hazel let out a harsh laugh.

"No. That was back in January. If I ever see the jerk again, I'm setting Espeon on him." After this announcement, Hazel grew quiet again.

Biting his lip, Ash asked the last thing he wanted to. "Did you and Kaze have a fight?" There was silence, then Hazel pushed away from Ash and sat on his bed.

Looking around the room and petting Pikachu at the same time, she asked, "Got any berries?" Ash sat next to his friend, on the side not occupied by the yellow mouse.

Moving some of Hazel's straight hair so he could actually see her face, Ash asked, "So you can send yourself to the hospital again? No." Hazel's dark chocolate eyes glared into Ash's milk chocolate ones. Ash noticed, though, that the effect was lessened by the dullness in her eyes. "What was the fight about? Usually you two laugh and are back to normal five minutes later." Five seconds later Ash had a crying girl in his lap. He was surprised; he knew teenage hormones were crazy, but not that they could make girls cry at the drop of a hat.

"I'm so stupid, Ash!" Hazel cried. "It was Kaze all along…what do I do? I don't know what to do! I don't want to lose him too!" Ash bit his lip. He was really no good with girls.

"What do you mean, Hazel? You're never like this after a fight…" Ash knew he wasn't really helping, but he didn't know what else he could do to get the story of what happened. Sitting up on her knees, Hazel wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath.

"It wasn't really the fight itself," she started. "We were just yelling at each other - I don't even remember what about - and something he said made me realize how much I really do like him. And then I realized he could never like me back, and I just lost it. I ran." Ash didn't say anything; he just held out his arms to give Hazel a hug. She took the invitation and moved into her friend's arms, nestling her head against Ash's chest.

Ash sighed. He had promised not to divulge this next bit of information, but he thought Kaze would forgive him. "You know," he said, stroking Hazel's hair, "Kaze really does like you. A lot," he added when he saw Hazel's disbelieving look. "I probably shouldn't have told you that, but I think you deserve to know you have a chance. Now, go get him," he finished with a smile. Hazel smiled back and nodded, before jumping from the bed and running out the door. Ash heard her call a quick goodbye to Delia as he walked back to his desk to finish that letter to Misty.

_They were sixteen,_

_And in the Sinnoh region,_

_A plan out of their control was being put in motion._

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><p><strong>AN: **Well, there it is. Hope you liked it! Please review and tell me your thoughts!_  
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